** Leona Naess

COMATISED

(MCA)

Had this past summer's Lilith Fair not been the last, 24-year-old newcomer Leona Naess -- armed as she is with an acoustic guitar, intimate lyrics, natural good looks (she's one of Calvin Klein's new jean models), and a voice that's at once delicate and powerful -- would surely be in the running for a slot on the next tour. Born in Norway, raised in England, and based in New York, Naess brings to mind the sultry introspection of fellow NYC songstress Jennifer Bledsoe of Elysian Fields. She credits Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell as primary influences, but the songs on Comatised lean more toward modern-pop arrangements -- they're fleshed out with piano, horns, and dashboard-drumming rhythms -- than stripped-down folk. The disc's upbeat, radio-friendly tunes -- the breezy "Charm Attack" and "Chase" -- are also its most innocuous and generic; Naess's voice shines only on earthier, jazzier tracks like the lovelorn lullaby "Northern Star"; and the lyrics are a little on the sophomoric side. The overall sound is dreamy, hypnotic, and disarming, but too often Naess comes across as just another face in the Lilith crowd, with little to distinguish her from dozens of other up-and-coming female singer-songwriters.

-- Mira Shin